rainbow connection (8)

This is kinda late but I'm done school as of last week!!! Wooooo!!!
I had my last exam last Monday, which was a joke... like the entire course.

My Summary of Human Development in the Arts course (aka. Teaching)

• Learning the multiple intelligences and Piaget's stages of development... okay
• Learning about fairytales, legends, and myths.. sure why not.
• Learning Olympian gods...huh?
• Knowing the all the Olympian gods and goddess and what each one symbolizes for the midterm... what? really?
• Midterm is a joke... No surprise there.
• CD becomes a required course material... sure, it must be some lecture or something.
• CD turns out to be a normal music CD by an artist named Josh Young... who the fuck is that?
• His music all sounds the same, are mostly covers of other artists' songs and has nothing to do with the course... whaaattt thhheeee f-
• It is mandatory to buy the hard copy CD from the prof for $20 or else you will not receive your marks, even though you can get it for $10 on itunes... whoooaaa.. nonono. fuck that shit.
• We find out that the Prof was making us buy the CDs so that the producer of the CD, who is a scientist, would guest speak. And when he does, he says that dance is not his thing, doesn't know anything about dance yet is speaking to a class with over 50 dance students... woooow, why are you here?
• Prof says it is no longer mandatory to buy the CD after all the commotion and petitions started about how she is blackmailing students... that's right, bitch.
•  Prof still claims that the CD is a required course material and we will need to know it for the exam... whatever.
• One of the three questions on the exam. Incorporate two of the songs from the Josh Young CD into a dance/movement and/or drama lesson that teaches self confidence and teamwork... couldn't think of anything more creative? Stuuuupid.

I've been extremely lazy since I've been done, but I don't care because this period of nothingness feels nice.

Zzzzzz....
Chantee

Read more...

and back to reality..

Crap, this reading week went by WAAAAY too fast. I didn't get everything I wanted accomplished, but still I believe it was very well spent. I just got home from hanging out with the usuals and I can't help but feel depressed. Really! I sorta have that feeling when you reach the end of a really amazing anime series like Shaman King! (and I don't know why it has to be an anime. It feels more right than saying any kind of series ahah.) I guess it's because I know that starting this week a lot of hectic events and late nights at school will be happening from all the shows going on each week after another. I guess when it comes to the actual shows everything will be fun.

It's also gonna be REALLY weird because for the past week I saw Bryan like every single day for the whole day or at least half! And now it's gonna be either I don't see him, or I see him for like an hour or so, which is better than nothing I guess.
I really needed this week to just relax and feel somewhat free. Otherwise I would've gone completely insane! I probably won't feel like I have a life again until April. I won't be done school yet, but that's basically when this marathon of shows and rehearsals will end.

Le sigh.

Chantee

Read more...

Robbed in more ways than one.

Number 1.

Today I went to a Canada's Wonderland audition for dancers for the hell of it. Mostly just to give myself more options for when after school is over. I didn't want it that desperately because it is essentially bad choreography and bad dancing. That is how it exactly was for the audition too. Bad choreography AND also bad dancers auditioning. It's sounds pretty conceited to say, but with my experience I felt like I was pretty over qualified. Even with that thought I didn't slack off or anything. However, I got cut. I basically lost to dancers could not even pick up simple choreography or even balance on a side develope at the very beginning of the routine! I was surprised and not so surprised because this is how it has been recently for some of my classmates that have been auditioning for cruises lately. Dancers with absolutely no technique getting jobs while dancers with maturity and strong technique are getting cut. It really makes me worry about where dance is going in the world -_-.
Robbed.

Number 2.

Afterwards, I went to watch Bryan and his friends participate in a 2 vs. 2 battle downtown at Street Dance Academy. He did really well! Him and Eric made it to the semi finals. But they really should have made it all the way to the Finals. Why? Because they lost to some guys that did not dance to the music, were not very impressive with their moves, and were just overall "okay". AND I AM NOT BEING BIASED BECAUSE BRYAN IS MY BOYFRIEND! A lot of people saw it too! Even the dudes themselves even told Bryan and Eric after the battle that they were surprised that got it and that they felt that it really should've went to them instead.
Robbed.

Number 3.

We all went out to eat at a Ramen place on Spadina that was closeby. We were there for less than an hour and we come back to the car only to find the passenger seat window smashed! It's really retarded because it was only 9pm-10pm and it was close to Spadina and Dundas! There were so many people and cars going by around that time still. We were parked on Spadina too, not on some random side road close to an alleyway. Thankfully most of our stuff we had in the trunk or with us inside. However, Bryan and Eric both had left their bags in the car which were both stolen. The most important things that were taken were Bryan's passport and Eric's hearing aid. Everything else in the bag were clothes and such. Bryan had one of his Nike jackets in there and also a hat for breaking. It was a really nice messenger bag of his too! Ughhh.. The only thing that was still left in the car were my pair of sneakers that I brought along with me in case I needed them for the audition... which I thought was a lil funny. The thieves were definitely guys. So we spent some time calling the police and asking nearby restaurants if they saw anything or if they can check their security cameras. There was a restaurant that did have one that would've had a perfect view of the car, but when we asked if they could check the footage they said that it's not on... Seriously? What's the fucking point in having a security camera? I really really really hope Karma gets back at these thieves and fucks them up big time T___T. I'm really thankful that nothing even more serious was left in the car like a wallet. But still...
Robbed.

Number 4.

There wasn't much we could do then after calling the police because they were closing or something like that so we decided to head back home. There was so much glass on the passenger seat that it would've been really dangerous for someone to sit there. So the four of us had to squish in the back seat. We didn't have much of a choice. We had to break the rest of the glass off the window, and ask restaurants for garbage bags and tape. One of the Chinese restaurants who knew our situation even charged us 50 cents for a bag. Wtf really???? Shortly after we left, we got pulled over by a cop because there were four of us in the backseat and we didn't have seat belts on. We explained to him our situation and showed him the glass. He just gave us a warning and told us to clean the glass off the seat and clean the ones on the floor later on because it is dangerous for us to have four passengers in the back if we got into an accident. So we brushed as much glass as we could off the seat and stacked a bunch of newspapers on it. It would've been really ridiculous if the cop did actually fine us, knowing our situation and actually witnessing it as well. Why on earth would we just have four of us crammed in the back and then an empty passenger seat?
It's just really stupid that we had to go through even more shit because of the assholes who broke in the car.
Robbed.

Yes, it was a very crappy way to end the day. However, I am still very thankful that it wasn't any worse. I'm thankful that we had most of our valuable belongings with us and that the thieves didn't get into the trunk even though they really could have after breaking the window. And most importantly, I'm thankful that all of us were physically safe. In the end, that's all that matters.

Read more...

update yayyy

Oh hi there bloggerland,

Yes, I disappeared for about a couple of months not just because of the usual "busy with school/work/social life" but mostly because I haven't had much inspiration to blog about the random things in my life. But now suddenly, I feel like getting back into it again.

So these are just random updates about my life that I just feel like throwing out there..

• I dyed my hair for the first time in December. Not that I didn't like my natural hair colour anymore, I just wanted a change. I didn't do anything drastic of course. For a while I've been wanting to keep my hair dark but have a red/purple tint to it so I finally did it. It's very noticeable in some lighting and not so much in others. But I'm okay with that. I want to build up the colour gradually. I will probably redye it over Reading Week yayyy.
  
  
• I've been carrying my Olympus camera a lot lately. I wanna try doing a photo a day sort of thing and for that I will maybe use my barely used Tumblr.
  
  
• I know before I was scared of not being in school anymore because I didn't know what I'd be doing after. Even though I'm still not sure, I feel less scared because I just want OUT of school now -__-. So far this semester has just been ridiculous.
  
  
• I need to get a new phone. Seriously, I've had the same one since Summer 2009 and it's slowly becoming effed up. It loves to receive text messages hours later and sometimes tells me that I'm getting present text messages from the future! An Iphone is sounding very good right now, but I still have to wait xP.
  
  
• A couple of discouraging things have happened over the past couple of months, but I've been learning how to make the best of everything and I feel happier that way. I'm very thankful to have my friends who love to chill spontaneously almost everyday. They keep me happy. Bryan likes to call us the Weekenders even though I'm pretty sure I see all of them more on week nights if anything! Haha.
  
  
• As for just me and Bryan, we are still growing together and learning about each other. It's crazy looking back at the past five years that has lead up to here. But I'm happy with where we are at n0w. I'm thankful for him the most and I feel like I don't show that enough to him.
  
  
• Still obsessed with Pinterest (Join if you haven't already! XD)
  
  
• Still love playing Ninjatown even though I am probably on my 4th time playing the whole game through again.
  
  
• Other things I've recently been loving: vintage style bags, mango milk tea with small tapioca, wavy hair, watches, wearing Bryan's clothes!
  

Until next time.

Chantee

Read more...

Meet Chihiro (aka. Chi chi)

Oh hi there,

My name is Chihiro. It took about a week for me to get a real name because...
Ebun, Thunderstorm, Stormy, Spikey, Sweetie, Dirty, Pebbles, Cloudy, Patchy, Rocky, Spunky, Jennifer, Girlie, Facebook, Youtube, and Friendster weren't very suitable names for obvious and not so obvious reasons.

I am a girl cockatiel. I don't talk. I don't bite.
I cannot fly, but I still love trying to even though there is nowhere to land.

Oh and Tweety doesn't like me yet. Sad face.

Read more...

ice packs are my best friend.

I've been done school for a good week now. But I've been too lazy to update mostly because...

This was only the first day so my cheeks weren't really swollen. They blew up the next two days though x_X

I got my wisdom teeth out yayyyyy. I only got my two bottom ones out because they were impacted. They initially told me that I had to get all four out but then when I had my consultation they said that I don't need to take the top ones out because they are growing in straight and there's enough room. I hope they're right because I'm gonna get so pissed if I have to get them out later on! T_T I don't wanna go through this experience again.

I'm feeling better now. I believe I'm on day 5 of recovery? I can probably go out now without feeling self conscious about how huge my cheeks are. Ahaha. No I did not take a pic of my self with my chipmunk cheeks. But my friends that were nice enough to visit me at home definitely saw them. It was a fun Castle Crashers party! =]

Anyways, this school year has flown by SO quickly. Summer 2010 didn't feel that long ago. It feels like only maybe one semester went by. I can't believe that I'm gonna be in 4th year next year! It's really scary actually.

I love my class!

General plans for the break...

Working
Currently I am job hunting since I have time to have another job because my teaching job is only once a week. This is actually my first time seriously going for a part time job. All my work experience has only been teaching. For the past like two weeks I have been applying to places that were and were not hiring. I've been going to mostly restaurants or places that would allow me to have waitress experience. I don't want to do retail even though I would get a could chance of working at places like lululemon. Before I wanted to work there, but thinking about it now, the sales associates there seem to be really fake and I don't think I can handle that. Maybe it's just me. Also, I think I'd get bored doing retail. Being a server seems to be a lot more interesting for me. Plus, tips? :D We'll see. I do have some interviews coming up this week so wish me luck! :D

Taking dance classes and auditions
Self explanatory. I want to take classes downtown but not only contemporary. I want to learn how to do popping and locking as well as crazy as it sounds! My cousin is gonna teach me =] If I hear about any auditions for some short dance jobs I'll go for sure. It's what I want to do right? I need to increase my connections as well. So far I got a job for a show for an insurance company that I heard about from one of my teachers at school. There was about 50ish people that auditioned since it was a bit last minute, but they were only looking for 3 guys and 3 girls. So it was intense! I'm so blessed to have made it. I get to work with a choreographer from Steps NYC. I was incredibly happy when I got a call back. I couldn't stop smiling! Bryan was there to witness it! Haha. The show and rehearsals aren't until June so I do have some time to get into other things. Hopefully I'll come across more opportunities such as commercials. I'd want to do that for sure!

Youtube
I want to participate in the youtube community a lil bit more. Making videos has always been fun and I've gained a lot of encouragement and inspiration from others =] I'll have more time to make vids over the break.Of what I'm not entirely sure. So far I plan on doing some circle lenses reviews since I have quite a few now. I heart circle lenses! ^^

Arts
Painting. Playing with my lomography cameras. Crafts. Etc.

Chilling
With very awesome people =]

Until next time.

Read more...

neighbours.

I got a new cage for twitter over the weekend. This whole time we've been keeping him in Tweety's lil carrying case, which is TINY and I've always felt bad for him even though I always let him out to invade Tweety's cage. Tweety and Twitter do fight sometimes so I don't really feel comfortable keeping them both in one cage when no one is at home. (Btw, I'm saying him because I think Twitter is a boy now) I looked at the prices at the pet store in Square One, but the smallest cage they had there was like $75. Rip off.

I decided to go back to the pet store I got Tweety from in 2003. It's called Pet Mart on Dundas. The people there seem to specialize in birds more so they have a lot of nice bird supplies and a ton of cages! I do recommend going there since they know what they're doing and also their prices are waaaay cheaper. Guess how much their small cages were? $20! So I picked a really cute small cage that I thought was a decent size for one budgie, but my sister and mom spotted this bigger one that was on sale for $25. It was originally $50 but it was half off because it was a used cage. So I decided to go with that one instead. According to one of the workers there, the small cages they had there are apparently too small for budgies and are only carrying cases for bird shows or something. I thought that was a little odd because I swear I've seen people cram three or four budgies in one small cage, but okay.

What I loved about the new cage was that it looked exactly like a mini version of Tweety's cage. So they match! =]

I had a lil photoshoot with my Fuji 200 yesterday because I was still excited about the cage. lololololol. (which is partially the reason why I finally got the energy to scan ALL my instant photos from December up until now and post them up) I got to play with some of the expired film I got as well, which was also very exciting.

My favourite expired photo so far.

I love my birds! =] I want to get another budgie friend for Twitter. I really really wanted to get this one that was spotted like a cow! ... or this other one that was a bright bright yellow XD K I'll stop now.

Until next time.

Read more...

guess what I'm making for Valentines this year...

Oreo Truffles!

My dance class is having a Baked Goods Day for Valentines tomorrow and I'm planning on making these today. The recipe for this is super easy so it's perfect for those of you who aren't really geniuses at baking and making other sweet things, like moi :D

Read more...

choreography and lomography

Update since I've been dead for like two weeks. Actually.

The last two weeks were the most physically and mentally tiring that I've ever experienced! Which would be a weird to say since the first two weeks back at school aren't usually to be like that for most people at least. Choreo auditions were soon after school startedso it meant rehearsals x 2049582094029384! Out of the 100 pieces that enter, only 40 get in. Yeahhh. The stress just progressed throughout the weeks to a point where everyone was pissed at each other. I neglected all my academic readings because I would collapse on my bed as soon as I got home each night. I had like no social life and didn't even see Bryan for the whole week... which really didn't make the week go any better. But death week is over now! Thank god. It'll be somewhat calm until the casting list goes up. Heh. I feel like it will take a lot longer for the faculty to decide this year because there were SO many good entries from what I saw during people's rehearsals.

Here is one group piece I choreographed. It was originally for my Creative Performance class, but I decided to add music, make some changes, and audition it for Choreo.

Dorothy

It was one of the latest run throughs the day before the audition that I got on film. There's no music in beginning because it's supposed to start in silence, in case you're wondering why you can't hear anything. The ending was cut off too xP
I did post this facebook, but set to private for those associated with this piece. But because you bother to read my blog, you get to see it! :D yayyyyyy

The music was actually made by a good friend of mine from high school, Marvin. It's called Loves Interlude. I came across it when he showed me his music site where he has all his different song recordings. It really spoke to me at the time and I remembered it later on when I was thinking of potential songs for my choreography. Yeah, so I asked him if I could use it and he said yes =] Thanks Marvin! Check out his stuff here!

Photography wise.
I got a Diana Mini over the Christmas break! I got the Alice in Wonderland version though I was only planning on getting the regular one. I just couldn't resist because it was so cute! :D And also it came with a Diana Flash that I could use when I do get the regular sized Diana + some time in the future. I decided to start off with the mini first mostly because it uses 35mm film which is way easier to find and cheaper than 120mm film. I know you can buy 120 film at Urban Outfitters, but I'm not sure which places process the film. Wal Mart maybe? Dunno. I've only gone through one roll of film for the Diana Mini that I mostly experimented with. I haven't gotten it developed yet though. I do have a feeling that I may have accidentally overlapped images with the way the film winded at some points. Using this type of camera definitely brings me back to Photography class in high school minus the developing process.

I think the line on the back of the camera is clever. "Through this lens is wonderland"

I also finally got myself a Polaroid SX 70 aka. the camera that unfolds!!! I wanted one so badly after watching the Mijonju show on Youtube. Mijonju definitely got me back into photography. I love how this camera transforms! I was so tripped out the first time I saw him open it.

TRANSFORM! >:D

I got a good deal on Kijiji. The prices I've seen around on ebay and such were like $120 + for the camera and a case. Or even just the camera sometimes.
Buuuut I found someone selling it for $60 which included the case and another case with a whole bunch of accessories for the camera that most people do not include. It just has a scratch on the leather on the top, but other than that, it's in good condition. The guy selling it was this old man who had the camera for 20 years, but hardly used it. So, the camera is just as old as me! He said he was happy knowing that his camera was going into good hands.
Now the only thing I need now is SX 70 film =( Not cheap at all.

Next on my list
Fujifilm 210
Because it's awesome too... and film is available :D
Until next time.

Read more...

Happy New Year!

Resolutions for this year

• Stop procrastinating (...a given)
• Work on strength and flexibility outside of school
• Improve my singing voice - been watching too many singing related videos on youtube again lulz.
• Play the piano more
• Write in my journal more
• Update blog more often
• Update Youtube more often
• Shop less
• Put effort into those who actually care about me
• Not letting others stop me from moving forward
• Become more independent

Yeah... Nothing out of the ordinary...ish. I've already been doing well with these goals for the past month already.

New Year, New Journal

Actually, it was just a coincidence that I filled up my old journal days before New Years. It took like 10 months to fill up.. because I stopped writing so many times due to laziness or being busy with other things. But it still helps me feel like I'm having a fresh new start. The pages are so beautiful. It'll just make the experience of writing about anything more enjoyable.

Let's make the best of 2011!
(Is it just me or does the number 2011 seem very awkward? ... Probably just me lololololol.)

Read more...

what happened was...

amazing!

Rye Dances this year is over and I can't say that I'm happy about it. Yes, I am relieved that I no longer have long ass rehearsals every day and I actually have little more time to relax, but I feel sad that this experience, which has been more of a journey to me, is over. It seems so long ago when we all first gathered with our designated choreographers anxious to know who was in the same piece as us and what the piece would be about. But it went by so fast.

The performances went very well and the pieces grew with every show. I learned more about dance and also myself along the way. I'm thankful for all my friends who came out to watch and share this experience with me. I'm also thankful to those who couldn't make it, but tried their best! All the support really means a lot to me because dance is really a huge part of my life.

Of course an after party is needed.
Partying with a huge group of dancers is sooo much fun :D

I really do wish for an upcoming relaxing week, but it's not even close. Dance assessments, acting presentations, singing presentations, anatomy papers, and creative performance pieces all within 5 days. Did I forget to mention exams the week after? Joy.

until next time.

Read more...

twitter?

I got a new budgie yesterday. Well, it's not really mine o_o

I'm just taking care of it for my cousin Nicki who received it for her "moves on it's own and musical" gift in last week's Kris Kringle game within my cousins. She has two cats at home so it's not exactly safe for the budgie to live with them. Not only because the cats will want to hunt it, but also because there's bacteria in a cat's saliva that can cause an infection to birds. I remember reading that when I researched on taking care of birds when I first got Tweety. Luckily, we have Tweety's carrying cage for the budgie to stay in.

Nicki named him/ her Twitter! Cute name =] Its middle name is Tweety's minion.

I have no idea if this budgie is a guy or a girl and I probably won't really find out any time soon.

I was a lil worried that the first encounter of Twitter and Tweety would go completely wrong and that Tweety would get territorial and jealous. It also doesn't help that Twitter is TINY and Tweety is like twice his/her size. But it seemed like Tweety was slightly scared of Twitter and tried to avoid contact. Haha! There was a point where Twitter was trying to talk to Tweety and they had a bit of a conversation. But it stopped before I could get my camera and film it =(

Tweety and Twitter's first encounter

Nicki calling the budgie Twitter sorta reminded me of my neglected Twitter account that I made just to occasionally follow certain people I am subscribed to on youtube. Other than that I've always found Twitter a bit pointless since I could do the same thing on facebook. However, I'm debating whether I should jump on the bandwagon and actually use my Twitter.

I just might because my bird is named Twitter =]

@chanteechu

Read more...

"Hahahaha! I'm feeling giddy!"

It's been a while... lulz.

I'm taking a break from those Day Challenges as you can probably tell already. If I find one that's interesting enough, I'll do it. Now about my life?

School wise. I've been swamped with rehearsals for my show coming up end of November! Not so much assignments anymore. But when I get home, all I want to do is sleep right away because I'm so exhausted. Our rehearsals lately have been going up to 5 hours long and we still have dance classes in the morning before. What also sucks is that between class and rehearsal I've only been getting like a 15min - 30min break and that's it. So I've literally been dancing the whole day, especially for the past three days! I got SO sore this week and I'm still sore especially in my arms and hips. My body is pretty beat up too from doing dive rolls T_T. This week coming up will be our tech week so it's just going to get worse for me. Yayyyy.... I'm still excited for the show. Just getting through these rehearsals is hell!

One of the many bruises from doing dive rolls. Yayyy.

I really love how my crappy web cam just washes out the true darkness of this bruise T_T

I never read the newspaper on my way to school or back home even though it's always available for me. Don't know why really. I guess I'm not that interested? The most I look at in the newspaper is the horoscopes and Sudoku. However, I recently have been getting into this one particular section of t.o.night that I heard about from one of my fellow commuting friends. There is a shout out section where basically people write shout outs to other strangers they notice in their commuting experience. It's pretty funny. Ahaha. I want to start collecting them and maybe keep the ones I like in my art journal (which I haven't really touched in a long time). We'll see. I'll be sure to share =]

Social wise. Unnecessary drama here and there. People seriously need to grow up, get over themselves, and not act as if the pain they are inflicting on others don't exist because they don't see it or feel it. I'd rather not deal with such heartless people no matter how much I've been through with them especially if they don't care about anything in the world, even about the people that care about them. If they cannot even feel the slightest bit of sadness when they lose their close ones one by one, then power to them. Really.

On a brighter note, I still have my "drama free" friends and have gone on a couple of adventures with them within the past few weeks. I finally went to pmall after over a year! And guess what I stocked up on? Film for my Fujifilm camera! :D Yayyyy... Actually Bryan was the one that bought a couple of packs for me and also threw in a pack of the Hello Kitty film for me as well when I was initially planning to buy the film myself. But I'm very very thankful as always! He's super awesome! I can't wait to try the Hello Kitty film out :D but I do want to think of some sort of theme for it before I dive into it since it is quite special and cute film. Hmmm...

You can't leave pmall without doing...

I also got everyone into Pokemon Puzzle League. It's still one of my favourite N64 games! I've had some intense battles with Quan at Lizzeh's house and then at Bryan's house later on (cuz they borrowed it from her lolololol). Our longest match lasted 7 mins I believe? However, I am still undefeated :D Muahaha!

I like playing it in 3D better :D

The character and pokemon you choose really don't matter, but I love using the characters with the most annoying voices to distract my opponent when I get combos and such. Team Rocket all the way!!! XD
N64 games are still awesome =]

My cousin, Dion, is teaching English in Korea and has been gone for a few months already. I'm not gonna see him for another year I believe! Craaazy. Anyways, a lil fun thing he did with his students is make them write letters to us! I think he advertised all of his cousins and showed them our pictures. And then they just decided who they wanted to write to. He did mail out these letters, but he also took pictures of each one and posted them on facebook. I got one!

Dear Chantelle
Hello
Nice to meet you
My name is Da Bin! I'm 18 years old. You like dancing? Me too!
I like dancing and very well.
um. You are good at stretching. Your very flexible
Here very cold. I have a cold. I'm sick.
I want you to come to Gyeongju in Korea!
Treat you^^
Your smile is pretty! I envy you
I have a boyfriend
I want to invite you to my wedding in the future.
See you again. Bye!

Cuuuute =] This letter was one of the only ones that actually made sense. Ahah. I'm going to a wedding! Yayyyy!
My cousins got some pretty hilarious things written to them.

• "I'm so sorry, but I love you... I know you, but you don't know me. But I love you, love love love you."
• "I like english. But I can't english. Sorry."
  

Until next time.
Peace, love and lol.

Read more...

just a moment please...

I felt the need to update a bit since quite a lot has been happening recently.

So last week, I came home late from school on a rainy day. I didn't realize how hard it was raining since I was pretty much indoors for the whole day besides commuting. I was very exhausted and was about to get started on assignment until I noticed all this white stuff on my bed and the floor. It looked like something broke and shattered for a second, but there was nothing in that particular area of my room that could even do that. So I look up and there's this massive wet spot on my ceiling! The white stuff was parts of my ceiling dripping onto my bed and floor. I pretty much freaked and told my parents. So now, I am currently in the process of moving into my brother's room because he's always in the basement anyway and it's a lot bigger than mine. Being the youngest, I always got the smaller room... yayyyy. I was supposed to switch rooms with my brother months ago anyway. I'm very happy with the amount of space I have now. If I were to have a video tour of my old room, all I would have to do is sit in my bed and just turn around in a slow circle because my room was a sqaure and everything was that close.

In my new room... thinking about Bryan =]
This picture was made quickly by Quan when we were webcaming the other day. Oh and I'm wearing a bajillion layers because it's starting to get REALLY cold now.

I've been playing around with my new Fujifilm Instax =] I'm making sure I don't go so picture taking happy like I would with a digital camera because I only have two packs of film at the moment... though I have already taken a few accidental shots that thankfully don't look too horrible and pointless. Note to self: Do not try and attempt close up shots. You will miss your subject matter and it will not be clear.

a couple of my favs so far: one is with me, lizzeh and chantal,
a bunch of my favourite stuffed animals, and tweety.

The weekend was pretty eventful. Teaching has been getting easier and less nerve racking now, which is always a good thing. I did get my first drawing from one of my students who is five years old. Awwwww... I was very touched indeed =]

It's a brown sun, a brown girl, two trees, two flowers, and her name Addison (which you cannot see because it gets washed out)

Afterwards, I participated in another flash mob yayyy. The dance program was asked to create a performance for this Alumni banquet including a flash mob and a couple of old dance pieces that were performed last year in Dances and in Choreo. The flash mob was actually SO much fun! We all were dressed as waitresses and wore their uniforms at the Royal York Hotel. At first many guests asked us questions and we had to pretend to know what we were doing. If not, we would have to say "Just a moment please" ...and then get a real waitress to help. They filmed the entire performance, but surprisingly they have already gotten the flash mob on youtube! You can spot me numerous times in the video XD

Flash mobs are the best!

Read more...

this time maybe I'll be

Can you believe that there is only one month of summer left? Whaaat? I remember those times when we could just easily say "Oh, don't worry. We have four months to do this and that." But now we're down to one month and we haven't done half of the things we wanted to do... Okay, well maybe not for all of us, but definitely me.
I've been trying to make the most of my summer as always. Trying to see people, trying to learn new things, trying to appreciate this time and not be so lazy. It's definitely not too late to get started on whatever adventures or projects you planned on initially. After all, a month isn't too short. But when your plans fail and you come to a realization that they can't work out anymore, the best thing to do is just move forward and find something new for yourself. You feel happier that way. It's just something I've learned especially this past month. I don't know if it makes sense to you.

I haven't really been updating much about my summer, so I thought I'd do so right now... for those who are actually interested of course.
Ever since I've been back from Las Vegas, I have had a lot free time on my hands. Mostly because 1. I'm not in summer school like quite a number of people I know and I don't need to be and 2. I don't have a summer job and it was useless trying to get one anyway because of my poor availability at the beginning of the break. I have been doing a little bit of dancing because I am dancing in Miss Pakistan World again this year and have rehearsals for that at least once a week.

Honestly, I have been stressed about preparing for the upcoming school year. I've been mostly worrying about getting a job, preferably a dance teaching job. Actually, that's about the only job that I can think of I am capable of doing when rehearsals for my shows for school begin because last year we had rehearsals almost every day after school for a good two months. I honestly don't know how people managed to have regular part time retail jobs. I have been emailing resumes at dance studios here and there and I did get a few get back to me. I do not feel safe to say that I have been hired by one particular studio because I was not told that directly. However, I believe there are good chances that I am, considering how the studio owner said she needed teachers on the weekends especially because they are expanding and that she will give me a call sometime the next week. Also, she told me that she will be having an orientation with all the new teachers so that they are all ready to go for September. So, it sounds very likely, but I hate to be speaking too soon. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Decided to take a picture of the clouds when I was walking outside one lovely day.

On the more brighter note, I have been hanging out with friends here and there. Not really going out to major places spontaneously or anything as much as I'd like to, though it would still be a lil problematic for me at this moment concerning money anyway. Well then, in that case, I guess it's a good thing! Ahah. I don't have a problem just relaxing somewhere and talking with a friend or two. Boring? Never. If you can't appreciate moments like that, then I feel bad for you.

Lying down on the grass is always fun

Things that I really want to focus on this month that I didn't really get a chance to previously.

Reading

One thing that I have been wanting to do for the past few months is improve my vocabulary. If you know Reiselia aka. Reiberry on Youtube, you would know how strong her vocabulary is in her videos as well as the text she writes in her description box or in her comments. The way she speaks and writes is really inspiring and makes me want to improve my vocabulary to be able to speak with such maturity and intelligence. It's always a good thing to have, especially in writing assignments and even in interviews. One way to improve it is by reading.

The Hunger Games is one particular book I wanted to start reading. My sister (aka. the greatest book nerd I know) recommended it to me and she hardly recommends books for me to read. I don't own it myself so I might just have to wait until the next time I see her so I can borrow it. I heard that they are making a movie for it as well. So maybe this might be an addition to the list of series I've read before they came out in film, which is not too many to be honest. The only one I can think of right now would be Series of Unfortunate Events? Wow, I don't remember how many books there were but I know I stopped at book 11? I hardly remember what happened in books 4 - 11. Yes, it's been that long.

Art

I've been starting to get inspired to do some more paintings and drawings before the school year starts up again. Not just drawings and stuff in my art journal, which I still do every once in a while, but on canvas so I can actually hang them up in my room. I'm thinking of taking videos of the process as well again. It was fun doing so last year for the Spring video I made.

And lastly,

Working out

Definitely needed for this month since I've been on a break from dancing 4 or 5 days a week consistently. It's only been a few weeks since I've gotten back from nationals in Vegas and I already feel myself getting out of shape and losing muscle. For once though, I think I am pretty happy with my weight now and what it has been for the last few months. I haven't been finding myself saying "Wow, I look like a stick. I need to eat more" like usual when I see pictures of myself. I am definitely a healthier weight right now compared to maybe 2 years ago when I was very troubled and couldn't eat anything? lolololololol. I looked at old pictures from back then and I must say there is a dramatic difference. Regardless, I really need to gain more strength for the upcoming school year, especially core strength. Otherwise, my teachers will be very disappointed and tell me the same things over and over again. yikes. Yoga, here I come!

Until next time.

Read more...

stays in vegas? not really.

Wow, so I'm finally starting my Vegas post a week after I get back. lolololololol. And since, I've postponed it so long I barely remember the things I wanted to talk about =( Oh well.

I went to Las Vegas for nationals for the dance competition, Hall of Fame Dance Challenge :D! It's exciting because Hall of Fame is such a well known dance competition among competitive dancers around America because they post videos of some of the top winners onto their site and sometimes you may find some contemporary dancers from SYTYCD on the Hall of Fame from years before they auditioned.

Eiffel Tower? Wtf???

The competition was held in Paris Hotel which has a miniature Eiffel Tower. I can't wait to see the REAL one though. Ahah. Yes, the hotel was hella expensive but because the competition was held there, we got a discount yayyy.

This competition was really amazing. It went so well! We were against so many talented studios and it was really inspiring. So, the first two days of the competition was just solo entries. I did not expect to place in the top 10, but in fact, I did. And I was 4th! There were a couple of ties along the way. There was definitely like 20 people that placed. Ahah. But what made me especially happy was that everyone from the Top 4 and above got to perform in the Solo Showdown, where you're basically competing again against the top solos from your age division (in my case Senior) and a new set of judges pick one winner and everyone else would be runner ups. So, that time around, I especially did not expect myself to win first. But I was so happy and felt so blessed to be able to perform in the Solo Showdown in the first place. I was the only person from my studio that made it.
When the Solo Showdown came around I was so nervous because the expectations were very high. I didn't relax until one of my dance teaches gave me this great talk. However, I did not think about winning first place. My goal was to just dance my best and make the audience really feel something. I don't know how to describe how I was feeling during my performance, but I felt so great. The reactions that I got after I got off stage were unbelievable and definitely not what I was expecting. People were so happy and so surprised with my performance, saying it was the best I had ever danced in my life and that they almost cry or did cry. Being told that you made someone feel like crying is such a huge compliment for me! People that hardly ever tell me I did a good job said I was amazing! I was very happy with my performance.
In the end, I was just a runner up. But I was still very grateful being one of the nine qualified dancers to perform in the Solo Showdown out of the hundreds of dancers that performed. The host said himself that the Showdown was one of the hardest ones he had seen not just for the 2010 season but of all time in Hall of Fame history! I was very happy with that experience and also got to keep a tiara! =]

All my other group dances did amazing as well throughout the rest of the week. At Hall of Fame they have something like the Solo Showdown except its the highest scoring group from each studio against each other in the World Series. The piece from my studio that ended up getting in was our Lyrical line, Cathedrals. Annnd we won the World Series! :D I have no idea when but that dance will be on the website yayyyy. I'll post the link whenever that happens.

That was the last night of the competition and our studio and dancers from other studios decided to chill together in someone's room. But when not even half of us were there, we realized the room was way to small and decided to just go to the convention center where the competition was, hoping we would not get kicked out by security. Security actually passed by a couple of times but they didn't say anything even though there was probably at least 30 or 40 of us. Ahah.

Other than that there's been a lot of site seeing, shopping, and spending time with family and friends...

At Premium Outlet mall.

They have these mist systems all over vegas because of the heat. They're pretty cool, but these ones at least didn't help me too much because they're too tall. It's just easier to step indoors with air conditioning =]

This one was cool =]

In all the big hotels, they have this 24 Hour buffet that was like $40 per person? I don't remember exactly. Sounds like a lot, but it was actually worth it. They had really good food and the buffets in each hotel were different. Me and my mom went to three within the 24 hours I believe. We went to the one at Paris, Ceasar's Palace, and Planet Hollywood. Planet Hollywood had the best food! They had cotton candy! Harhar~ The only downside to the buffet was that so many people were doing it and the line ups to get in were hella long. It sorta felt like we were lining up for a roller coaster.

Cotton candy = love

I only went swimming once for the whole trip. I waited til the day after my competition to finally go because I didn't want to be too tired or discover that I actually do burn and go on stage peeling. I was in the pool for almost two hours and I just tanned. Thank god my swimsuit doesn't give weird tan lines :D Tube top swimsuits yayyyy!

I met another second cousin that I didn't know existed. He's so awesome! It was so great having him around to drive us around and also bring some light and humour everywhere we went.

Yeah, he's super tall.

Eating at California Pizza Kitchen with Ryan and Dobrina

And I will conclude my Vegas trip with...
A BEST BUY VENDING MACHINE!

Until next time.

Read more...

THUNDERRRDROCTAGONAPUSBLAHHHHHHHHH

is what I woke up to after getting back to Canada at 7am and finally getting some sleep at 10am. I was not able to sleep on the plane ride back unfortunately =( Having a full week of clear skies and hot air in Vegas, I almost forgot about the existence of rain... and thunder.

Welcome back to Canada yayyyy...

Read more...

four letter word puzzle

I've actually never heard of these types of puzzles before, but I found it very interesting when Bryan gave me a puzzle on a newspaper that him and his friends spent A LOT of time trying to figure out but couldn't. So he gave it to me to solve because he gave up.
It reminds me of Sudoku but I think it's way harder than Sudoku because I do not know every possible four letter word in the world.. which was why I was able to solve this with the assistance of the page on the internet with every possible four letter word. Cheating? I don't think so. I've never heard of the word eked or flue. If you know them, great. My vocabulary sucks and it's something I really want to expand on =]

Yes, I was so happy for solving it that I HAD to take a picture

Funny thing is that Bryan's closest answer was so close that all he had to do was switch the K and the E in the bottom left corner in his closest answer (written bellow the puzzle) in order for it to be solved. He didn't even use the internet for help like me.

For now, I'll just stick to Suduko ^^

Read more...